Orval Faubus

Orval Faubus (7 January 1910-14 December 1994) was Governor of Arkansas (D) from 11 January 1955 to 10 January 1967, succeeding Francis Cherry and preceding Winthrop Rockefeller.

Biography
Orval Faubus was born in Madison County, Arkansas on 7 January 1910 to a Baptist family, and he entered politics in 1936 as a Democratic candidate for the State House of Representatives, and he finished second in the race; he earned the party's gratitude when he declined to contest the election results. He was instead made circuit clerk and recorder for Madison County, holding this title for two terms. Faubus served in the US Army during World War II, serving as an intelligence officer in the US Third Army under General George S. Patton. In 1954, he defeated incumbent Francis Cherry in the state gubernatorial election, and he was accused by his rivals of being a communist due to attending the leftist Commonwealth College as a youth.

Governor of Arkansas
Faubus narrowly defeated Cherry and became governor on 11 January 1955, and he was seen by many as a liberal Democrat who supported the New Deal and was a moderate on racial issues. Faubus was known to partake in every handshake offered to him, no matter how long it took, and he was one of the most popular Americans during the 1950s. However, he betrayed his progressive ideals by ordering for the National Guard to prevent African-Americans from attending the Little Rock Central High School in 1957, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in the US 101st Airborne Division to enforce the desegregation of the school and to guard the "Little Rock Nine" as they went to class. Faubus would serve six two-year terms as governor, and he continued to enjoy the support of African-American voters despite his segregationist views, winning 81% of the black vote in the 1964 gubernatorial election. He decided not to run against Winthrop Rockefeller of the Republican Party in 1966, and he died of prostate cancer in 1994.